Concrete walls and other concrete structures have traditionally been made by building a form. The forms were usually made from plywood, wood, metal and other structural members. Unhardened concrete was poured into the form space defined by opposed spaced forms. Once the concrete hardened, the forms were removed leaving a concrete wall or other concrete structure or structural member. The exposed concrete wall is exposed to the elements and subject to curing. Several different methods are used to cure concrete, many of which lessen the maximum potential curing strength.
Insulated concrete form systems are known in the prior art and typically are made from a plurality of modular form members. In order to assist in keeping the modular panel members properly spaced when concrete is poured between the forms, transverse tie members are used in order to prevent transverse displacement of the walls due to the hydrostatic pressure created by the fluid and unhardened concrete. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,497,592; 5,809,725; 6,668,503; 6,898,912 and 7,125,547 (the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference) are exemplary of prior art modular insulated concrete form systems.
Such prior art insulated concrete form systems suffer from several common problems. First, in the construction of an exterior wall of a building, multiple insulated concrete form modules would be stacked upon and adjacent each other in order to form the wall form. In some insulated concrete form systems, the form spacers/interconnectors are placed between adjacent concrete form modules. Such form systems are not strong enough to build a form more than a few feet high. Concrete is then placed in the form and allowed to harden before another course of insulating forms are added on top of the existing forms. Such systems result in cold joints between the various concrete layers necessary to form a floor to ceiling wall or a multi-story building. Cold joints in a concrete wall weaken the wall therefore requiring that the wall be thicker and/or the use of higher strength concrete than would otherwise be necessary with a wall that did not have cold joints. This generally limits current use of insulated concrete forms to buildings of a single story or two in height or to infill wall applications.
Second, the use of multiple form modules to form a wall or other building structure creates numerous joints between adjacent concrete form modules; i.e., between both horizontally adjacent form modules and vertically adjacent form modules. Such joints provide numerous opportunities for water from the concrete mix to leak out of the form. The proper amount of water and heat is necessary for concrete to harden to its maximum potential strength. Thus, the loss of water through leaky joints in adjacent form modules reduces the strength of the concrete.
Third, prior art modular concrete form systems are difficult and time consuming to put together, particularly at a constructions site using unskilled labor.
It would therefore be desirable to provide an insulated concrete form system that is relatively easy to assemble, is stronger and permits the construction of a floor to ceiling high wall without cold joints. It would further be desirable to provide an insulated concrete form system that reduces or eliminates water leakage from an unhardened concrete mix placed in the form that would thereby allow the concrete to retain the moisture necessary for its proper curing to achieve its maximum strength.